Monday, June 7, 2010

SanDisk Sansa Fuze

To some people, the Sansa Fuze from SanDisk looks like a poor-man's iPod. Just because it may not look completely original doesn't mean it's any sort of rip-off or some kind of raw deal. The Sansa Fuze was designed to be an intermediary between the Clip and the View. It provides the portability of the Sansa Clip along with the capability to play videos and view pictures with the Sansa View. The Fuze, then, is the middle ground between the two. comes in multiple colors with various storage capacities. No matter how much space a Fuze has, you can expand it with a microSD card (up to 32 GB), allowing for more memory and more storage. I've been using my SanDisk Sansa Fuze since Christmas 2008. I needed a new MP3 player after my previous MP3 player, a 2 GB SanDisk Sansa Clip, gave out on me during Hurricane Ike. So I'm going to tell you more about the SanDisk Sansa Fuze.

But first, here is a picture of the Fuze:

^ from: gizmodo.com - the SanDisk Sansa Fuze in red.

--- My Story with the Sansa Fuze ---

In January 2008 for a late birthday present, my mother took me to a Best Buy so I could do some shopping at Best Buy. I graciously got a $100 Best Buy gift card, and that day, one thing I was considering was a new MP3 player. I was getting upset using my very first MP3 player, the RCA Lyra RD1070 and the stupid Musicmatch progam I just HAVE to use to put music on it. So I needed something better. I chose the SanDisk Sansa Clip in blue. I loved how I could clip it onto my belt or whatever to enjoy amazing music quality. It was my MP3 player of choice until it gave out on me after Hurricane Ike. I tried to charge it up and stuff, but the Clip never worked again later. And... I was out of an MP3 player.

So I was in need of a better MP3 player. I chose to stay with SanDisk because I was happy with the Sansa lineup. I wanted to step up to a more handy MP3 player that was capable of artist art and videos. So I wanted to get a SanDisk Sansa Fuze rather than the Sansa View because the Fuze was just right for me. I wanted a 4 gigabyte Fuze since it was just right for me and the music space on my PC. For Christmas, I got my Fuze in red. I know I said that Black or Blue was one of the colors I wanted for it, but also thought red was a nice color for it. My Fuze has a scratched-up screen, but still plays fine and looks great. I've now had this MP3 player for going on a year and a half. I could have went with an iPod Nano, but I chose SanDisk, and I chose the Sansa Fuze.

--- SanDisk Sansa Fuze Commentary ---

Basic talking points on the SanDisk Sansa Fuze will be displayed here. You will get my opinions on this device.

Sound.
Sound quality is amazing. Out the box, you get (at least for my ears) some great-fitting earbud headphones with lovely sound. There are certain EQ features you can set for the sound needs you are looking for.

Visuals.
The visuals are vivid and lovely. Not plain in any way to me. Firmware updates have offered beautiful introduction and exit animations to the Sansa Fuze.

Thumbwheel.
I could never understand the iPod wheel for the life of me. Thankfully, the thumbwheel for the Fuze is handy and solid. Navigation with the thumbwheel is outstanding. My only complaint- I wished I could use the Sansa Fuze's thumbwheel to scroll through radio stations without having to just use the Rewind and Fast Forward buttons. Speaking of the radio...

Radio.
Only FM radio is offered. You still get a great list of stations to use. The Fuze can even auto-detect available channels. You can add channels as favorites or get rid of any preset channels you don't like.

Audiobooks.
I do not have any Audiobooks, so I cannot comment here.

Recording.
You can record material onto the Sansa Fuze. FM Radio can be recorded, or you could even use it to record little messages. All audio is saved in WAV files. Specifications are: 384 kbps, 16 bit audio samples, mono sound, 24 kHz, and PCM wave format.

slotRadio. (requires slotRadio and a recent firmware update)
If you have a Fuze, you must have a recent firmware update to be able to use slotRadio. slotRadio features a microSD card filled with music. Some stores offer 1GB slotRadio cards (like at Walmart or Best Buy). I haven't a slotRadio card, so I can't comment.

Videos.
You are able to play videos with the Fuze. You need to download a program to convert videos for use with the Fuze. It does come with a demo video for NonStop Riot Live.

--- Review ---

Here is a general overview...

The Positives.
* fairly simple to upload MP3s (either drag-and-drop or through recent Windows Media Player)
* great sound
* handy for a lot of uses other than playing music
* feels just right and not too heavy
* fairly good battery life from its rechargable battery.

The Negatives.
* video conversion software needed, and the software gives a Buffer Overflow error (at least from my experience)
* I would have liked this have a clip to it without needing to buy an external one

For the money, if you want a great and useful MP3 player, you'd be hard-pressed not to go with a SanDisk Sansa Fuze. SanDisk is a quality brand, so expect quality when you get a Sansa Fuze. It may be one of the best MP3 players not from Apple and not with "iPod" in its name.

Since you were kind enough to read my blog entry on the Sansa Fuze, why don't I treat you to a chance to get your own Sansa Fuze? Here is the Sansa Fuze in three different memory capacities. Thank you for reading! (Read "An Important Amazon Note" for more information on all Amazon items)

There are more colors available for the SanDisk Sansa Fuze. To find more Sansa Fuze, click on the image below to visit my secondary blog, with more on the Sansa Fuze from Amazon:

(2 gigabyte capacity)
(4 gigabyte capacity)
(8 gigabyte capacity)

SanDisk Sansa Fuze accesories can be found here in this widget. Please feel free to use it to take your Fuze experience further (including many more Sansa Fuze models in other colors):

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